4 ms·

I ended up here on accident, but I can vouch for this system's value. I WAS freelancing at between $75-$100/hour, but having to work very hard for every contra

by nhangen 14y ago

I ended up here on accident, but I can vouch for this system's value. I WAS freelancing at between $75-$100/hour, but having to work very hard for every contract. On the side my partner and I were building software, selling a nice amount but nothing that was going to allow us to retire in a year. However, suddenly people starting emailing us after purchase, asking if we could build custom versions for them. Most turned out to be duds, at first, and then something changed. Suddenly we're charging weekly retainers and working on near six-figure projects, all on business that sought us out because of our software. Will this work for everyone? I'm not sure, but it did for us, and we didn't even see it coming.

pc86 14y ago
Was this a particularly "niche-y" software that you had (perhaps unknowingly?) positioned yourselves as the leaders? Presumably it wasn't The Next Big To-Do App but something that gave quite a bit of value.
- nhangen 14y ago
  It was our crowdfunding plugin for WordPress - http://ignitiondeck.com http://ignitiondeck.com
  - monkey_slap 14y ago
    I'm working a lot on my open source projects, building a good portfolio. I'm hoping I can get to a point where I find something worth charging for, but for now I'm building tools on weekends and using a large and well-received portfolio to garnish some attention. Great idea you've got there. I wish you only success!
    - nhangen 14y ago
      Thanks! Oddly enough, we started building this to raise money for a personal project and only later did we decide to sell it. Turns out that was a smart move. I can sympathize with your weekend pace. We worked on this for a year before it started getting any attention, and it's still not nearly as polished as we'd like it to be.
  - pknerd 14y ago
    great! you actually solved a problem which others did not and you're a winner.
  - lywald 14y ago
    I like the design but that automatic slideshow changing every 2 seconds is annoying... That close to the text it disrupts reading, and I don't even have enough time to watch the image (I can pause with mouse but by the time I learn that I'm already annoyed). Reminds me of this thread "Don’t Use Automatic Image Sliders or Carousels": http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4595026 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4595026
    - nhangen 14y ago
      Thanks for the honest feedback. We've been wanting to update the page for some time, but just haven't found the time yet. Will keep that in mind for the next revision.

by nhangen 14y ago

pc86 14y ago

Was this a particularly "niche-y" software that you had (perhaps unknowingly?) positioned yourselves as the leaders? Presumably it wasn't The Next Big To-Do App but something that gave quite a bit of value.

nhangen 14y ago
It was our crowdfunding plugin for WordPress - http://ignitiondeck.com http://ignitiondeck.com
- monkey_slap 14y ago
  I'm working a lot on my open source projects, building a good portfolio. I'm hoping I can get to a point where I find something worth charging for, but for now I'm building tools on weekends and using a large and well-received portfolio to garnish some attention. Great idea you've got there. I wish you only success!
  - nhangen 14y ago
    Thanks! Oddly enough, we started building this to raise money for a personal project and only later did we decide to sell it. Turns out that was a smart move. I can sympathize with your weekend pace. We worked on this for a year before it started getting any attention, and it's still not nearly as polished as we'd like it to be.
- pknerd 14y ago
  great! you actually solved a problem which others did not and you're a winner.
- lywald 14y ago
  I like the design but that automatic slideshow changing every 2 seconds is annoying... That close to the text it disrupts reading, and I don't even have enough time to watch the image (I can pause with mouse but by the time I learn that I'm already annoyed). Reminds me of this thread "Don’t Use Automatic Image Sliders or Carousels": http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4595026 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4595026
  - nhangen 14y ago
    Thanks for the honest feedback. We've been wanting to update the page for some time, but just haven't found the time yet. Will keep that in mind for the next revision.